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Real Innovation: What It Really Is, and How to Really Do It (Really)

Posted on behalf of Bill O’Connor, who works in Corporate Strategy at Autodesk, and runs The Innovation Genome Project, which researches the top 1,000 innovations in world history looking for insights people can apply to their day-to-day work.

I know you have Tweets to write, and pigs to kill with birds, so I’ll cut right to the chase. We’re all going insane with this “innovation” stuff.

Even the high-powered, high-IQ dudes who run America and China, respectively, can’t stop chanting the “I” word like sorcerers. (Fun Fact: Obama mentioned it 10 times in his last State of the Union Address. Less-Fun Fact: I don’t agree with his definition. And I’m a fan of his.)

So the relevant, two-chambered question here is:

1. Why are we so confused about what innovation is? 2. Why are we so confused about how innovation is actually done?

So here, without further ado, is a fairly contrarian perspective on what innovation is, plus a practical way to actually do it…

[WARNING: Practical, Field-Tested Concepts Ahead]

1. A Definition of Innovation: Making Connections to Bring Something New to the World

Innovation is not invention. Invention is a pure creation, that concept in your head, your lab, or even your backyard. It’s new, it’s cool, and it’s a breakthrough. Congratulations. But it’s not an innovation (yet).

Innovation is when you tie together existing ideas or technologies to successfully bring something new and valuable out to the world. Gandhi taking Thoreau’s concept of civil disobedience and bringing it to the masses to achieve national sovereignty. 3M changing a standard glue to make it pressure-sensitive, resulting in the Post-It Note. Often the most influential innovations aren’t even built on the innovator’s own inventions.

Invention is about insight. Innovation is about impact. Getting those two ideas straight is a good start.

2. Let’s Talk Less About “Innovation.” And “Innovator.” And “Innovate.” And more about “Innovative.”

This is subtle but important. The first three words can be problematic; the last one, liberating.

• “Innovation” is an abstract concept that everyone likes to talk about, but not really do.• An “innovator” is a person who fancies him or herself, well, super innovative. Calling yourself this might indicate a bit of narcissism; saying it about others can be a little sycophantic.• “Innovate” is the Great Verb That I Can’t Do. You tell me to “innovate,” and I think about it, and then say, “Meh. I have to get back to work.”• Only “innovative” has real power. Why? Because it’s your work that’s going to be innovative. Work (yours) is the noun. And innovative is the way to describe your work (the adjective). For example: We love our favorite restaurants because the food (noun) is delicious (adjective). We don’t go in there, sit down, and ask the waiter for some “deliciousness.” So why would it be any different with innovation?

3. The Innovation Genome Project, and the Six Innovation Questions

If innovation is not invention, how can we actually do it?

This leads us to a project at Autodesk called the Innovation Genome Project. The project’s goal is to examine the greatest 1,000 innovations from human history to yield a comprehensive view of the entire field, just as the Human Genome and Music Genome projects did in those areas.

At this point we’ve researched 100 of these innovations, and already an interesting pattern has emerged, which has led to the creation of an innovation tool. This tool is a set of six basic questions that have been used frequently in the creation of the innovations studied. These questions, when used as a focus for targeted brainstorming, can lead to innovative ideas that can be missed by more “traditional” brainstorming.

Here are the questions, and some examples of how they’ve been used for the greatest innovations in history…

1. What could we look at in a new way?

Benjamin Franklin looked at the American Colonies in a different way from everyone else, and as a result what he saw was a fledgling America, rather than a bunch of Englishmen struggling with their parent country.

2. What could we use in a new way, or for the first time? When the naturally occurring phenomenon of fire was used in a number of new ways, it became a source of heat and light, a powerful weapon, and a way to cook food–radically changing the world in the process.

3. What could we move into a new context, either in time or in space? When the ancient Sumerians moved language from the verbal to the written context, they greatly amplified its power and importance, because now language could transcend time and space.

4. What could we connect in a new way, or for the first time? Thomas Edison was one of many inventors working on the light bulb, but he set himself apart by turning electric light into a true innovation through its connection to the electrical grid.

5. What could we change, in terms of design or performance? Louis Braille changed both the design and the performance of written language. The design through his system of coded dots versus written letters. The performance, by allowing words to come in through the fingers rather than the eyes.

6. What could we create that is truly new? When the Greeks invented Democracy, they were not simply tweaking existing forms of government, but instead creating something truly new that has had a massive impact on human history.

We’re having great success using these questions as fuel for our brainstorming sessions both inside and outside of Autodesk; try the questions out at your next meeting and see if they help you make your work (really) innovative.

Bill O’Connor works on the Corporate Strategy + Engagement team at Autodesk, where he co-manages the company’s thought leadership platform, edits the publication Autodesk POV, works on the Autodesk vision team, and serves as the primary speechwriter for Autodesk’s CEO and CTO. He also runs the Innovation Genome Project, in which he and his team are researching the top 1,000 innovations in world history, looking for practical patterns and insights that people can apply to their day-to-day work.

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